Americans Desire Advice About Saving and Investing

Ninety
percent of working Americans believe they should be investing for retirement,
but only 75% are doing so, with many prioritizing other goals, like travel and
weight loss, according to the Capital One Investing 2016 Financial Freedom
Survey of 1,005 U.S. adults.

Only 16% say that increasing their retirement savings is a top priority for
2016, with the majority, 27%, saying traveling to a new destination is their
top goal, and 23% pointing to weight loss. Among Millennials, only 11% say that
growing their nest egg is their top goal, compared to 31% who prioritized travel
and 22% who hope most to buy a home. For Baby Boomers, only 21% put retirement
savings ahead of losing weight (30%).

Only 75% of
Americans are saving for retirement, down from 80% a year ago. Less than two-thirds, 64%, are confident they are saving enough to live comfortably
throughout retirement, down from 72% in 2015. Although 39% think they should be
saving more than 15% of their income, only 15% are doing so. Just more than one-quarter of Americans, 26%, are saving 5% or less for retirement. Among
Millennials, 61% are confident they are saving enough, but 29% are saving 5% or
less for retirement.

The majority of Americans, 76%, think saving for retirement today is more
challenging than it was for their grandparents because investing is more
complex, they cannot rely on Social Security and fewer companies offer pension
plans. Eighty five percent of Millennials feel this way, along with 72% of
Generation X, 73% of Boomers and 69% of women. In addition, 83% of Americans
think companies of all sizes should be required to offer their employees
retirement savings plans.

NEXT: Desire for human advice

Most
investors, including Millennials, want access to both human support and digital
investing tools when planning for the future. More than half of investors, 52%,
rely on a financial adviser. When there are market fluctuations, 75% of
investors would like to receive advice from an adviser, either by phone, email
or in person.

Seventy-five percent of Americans think there are benefits to robo advisers,
with 33% citing 24 hour access and 25% pointing to the ability to independently
manage and maintain control of their portfolio. However, 31% of Millennials
question robo advisers’ accuracy, and 30% of Gen X say the lack of human
oversight is a drawback.

Forty-two
percent of Americans say industry jargon prevents them from investing with
confidence, while 41% say a lack of transparency in pricing causes them to lack
confidence. Half of investors say a lack of knowledge or experience causes them
to lack confidence, and 60% of Millennial investors say this causes them to
feel less confident about investing.

Even among those
investors who consider themselves self-directed, 39% prefer to work with an
adviser to create a portfolio, 34% would like them to perform financial
planning, and 36% would like them to rebalance their portfolio.

ORC
International conducted the survey for Capitol One January 21 to 24.